LONDON (ShareCast) - The chairman of Praetorian Resources, the Guernsey-based natural resources investment group, has said that market sentiment has been "decimated" by the collapse in oil prices, but reckons that the worst is now over.Robert King, speaking alongside the company's interim results which showed a significant reduction in losses, said that the junior resource markets were continuing to face "exceptionally challenging headwinds".

"Shareholders by now will have witnessed along with your board yet further deterioration in the sector making it, in my opinion, one of the most severe bear markets in its history," he said.

Analysts have predicted that low oil prices would force oil majors to slash investment and cut jobs to protect profits, hitting oil service companies and some smaller explorers.

Praetorian invests in a number of natural resource sectors and holds stakes in AIM-listed Equatorial Palm Oil and Galileo Resources.

Following on from a "fall-out" in some bulk metals, King said investor sentiment has been hammered by the recent plunge in crude prices - currently trading at their lowest in five and a half years - while a "capital drought" for financing has made matters worse.

King predicted "uncertainty" is likely to remain in early 2015, but said: "Your board [...] would like to think that the worst is now in fact behind us and that a significant improvement in the commodities and natural resources climate takes hold in the coming year."

Praetorian's net investment losses totalled £2.78m in the six months to 30 September, compared with losses of £5.14m the year before. As such, the operating loss narrowed to £3.15m from £5.45m previously.